“Look Who's Talking”

In the following chapter we present a discussion of the place of identity and emotion in argumentative learning. We support it with a case analysis tracking the impact of students’ identity in the framing of goals, arguments and cognitive moves during peer learning of an identity-relevant historical controversy. While discussing this case, we stress the importance of relating the “talking” or learning in discussion to the issue of “who is” the discussant-learner and how his identity and emotions impact on interaction. The call to “look” at who it is that talks is both an analytic suggestion and an educational didactic advice. In the specific case study presented, which is derived from historical thinking, research awareness of speaker identity carries parallel significance for the content and process of learning.